The Domenico's

Happy 30th Birthday Adam!

2012-02-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

Every day in Italy has been special so far; however, today was an extraordinary day as Adam turned 30!

The day started out by going to the market with Tiffany, ordering Cappuccinos and pastries, and enjoying the bustling sound of a day just beginning.

Afterwards, Adam and I walked around the many stalls selling fresh veggies and fruits, meats, cheeses, wines, oils, and everything else wonderfully Italian. After picking up some pastas and herbs, we headed back out to explore the Santa Maria Novella, a church that was built beginning in the 12th century.

We were very hungry again at this point, so we meandered to our favorite pizza place, Pugi's. We got our favorite, Margarita pizza, plus a Tortufo and cabbage. It sounds weird but it was amazing!

A visit to the Duomo followed. We had previously visited the dome of the Duomo and went all the way to the top to see all of Florence; but this time, we stayed on the ground floor and admired the art work, the inlaid marbled floor, and it's massive size.

The best part came when we realized there was something down below. We discovered an archaeological dig! Apparently, the Duomo was built on top of the Santa Reparata Church, whose original construction dates back to 3rd century! It even has Brunelleschi's tomb in it!

We wondered the streets for a while longer, before we met up with Tiff and grabbed some gelato. On our way home, we were a little hungry again, so being Adam's birthday and everything, we went back to Pugi's got more pizza and yummy desert cake to bring back home!

Our next stop was to Bacco Nudo Vini Sfusi...(phew! What a mouth full!)This is the wine shop owned bu a sweet old man who loves and knows Tiff (and her Italian). We unloaded the empty wine bottles from Adams backpack and chose our wines.

When you bring your bottle back it's only 2-3 euros a bottle to refill! The wines are from all around Tuscany and are delicious! They have different wines all the time depending on what's in stock.

Later in the evening we went out to dinner with Tiffany, Maggie, Janelle, and Dean (Janelle's boyfriend who just arrived yesterday from S. Ca). We "indulged" (isn't everything here indulgent?) in prosciutto and melon, pasta's, and more desserts.

Overall it was a special day for a very special husband. I love you Adam!

Buon giorno Italia!

2012-02-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

Yay! The Domenico's are in Italy- back to Adam's roots!

We anticipated that Italy would be a little bit warmer than balmy Belgium and France; however, the Siberian winds had other plans. It's freezing, and snowy! But luckily we planned accordingly and have plenty of clothes to keep us warm on our daily outings. Today the high was 32 degrees with a 19 degree wind chill... that will be warm compared to the 7 degree wind chill predicted for Sunday! BRRRRR...

Florence does not disappoint. Lonely Planet told us it would be a living museum and were they ever right! This enchanting city is small enough to walk around, but large enough to become mesmerized. Tall layers of yellow and beige building line the cobble stoned streets. Around every corner is a wide piazza, a tower church, a sculpture or fountain. Never more in our lives did we wish we had taken an art history class because everything has a story to tell. We are fortunate that Tiffany has learned a lot about her adopted town and that her roommates are actually art history majors.

Speaking of roommates, Tiffany's roommates are amazing! When we arrived on Wednesday night, they had a pasta dinner waiting on the table for us! So sweet! They are so welcoming and hospitable, letting us take over their house for more than a week!

Pizza, pasta, cheese, salami, prosciutto, bread, wine, gelato, nutella filled pastries. Need we say more? Italy (and what we have experienced in Europe) uses fresh seasonal produce and ingredients. You eat what is available when it's available, and that's why everything is so delicious! Fresh ingredients = fresh food. Tonight we had gnocchi al Gorgonzola, spaghetti alla cabonara, tortellini al tartuffo, marinated artichokes, bread and balsamic, wine, and tiramisu. MMMM...

Did you know in Europe you must make eye contact with the person you are toasting your glass with or you will have bad luck? You also cannot cross arms while toasting across a table... or you guessed it, bad luck. We were wondering why everyone was looking at us with big googly eyes! Now you'll know why we're doing the same when we get home.

With so much of the world to explore and taste, we wonder where tomorrow will take us... and you!

Bonjour Paris!!!

2012-02-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

Brussels was a wonderful place, filled with good friends and family, and good times. So, as difficult as it was to leave, we said au revior and "single kissed" Brussels good bye, and welcomed Paris with open arms and "two kisses on everyone's cheek"!

We quickly realized upon arrival that Paris is not a small city filled with quaint streets lined with pastry filled shops. It is huge! And that means there are more pastry shops and cafes than you could ever imagine. Seriously. Paris is the largest city we have ever been to by far, with a population of over 12 million people. However, there is so much to do, see, explore and experience.

It's hard to believe that we have only been here a week. We have seen so many things that we have only read about in history books or seen on the travel channel. We have taken metros, high speed trains, buses, boats, taxi's and plain old cars to get around.

Our friends, Jenny and Brandon, were blessed with the entire country of Belgium going on strike on Monday. What does this mean? It means that ALL transportation is shut down in the entire country.... including flights in and out. Talk about making a statement! The blessing? They got stuck in Brussels two extra days with Anne! FUN!

The Eiffel tower is the least overrated tourist attraction we have ever seen. It is simply fantastic. It's nice to look at but the magic happens as you climb the tower and the view of the city come in focus. As we descended the clock struck 6pm and we were surrounded by sparkling lights. Apparently every hour the tower lights up with a dazzling display of white lights. You can't help but be awestruck.

We made a Master card slogan while we were there... it goes something like this.

Tickets to the Eiffel Tower- $12
A glass of Champagne at the top of the Eiffel tower- $12
Your camera battery dying at the top of the Eiffel tower,
while drinking champagne- PRICELESS

Lucky for us, Jenny brought her iPhone that day, even though it didn't work,because her camera died too! Good old iPhone saved the day!

After we bid are friends farewell, we met up with Daniel and Helene, who we had first met 2 1/2 years ago in Bali... for just one afternoon. You might be asking yourself, what? You only met one time, 2 1/2 years ago and now you're going to stay with them? Well, one of the best things about traveling is getting the opportunity to meet people you never would have otherwise, and you find that you have a common bond with people no matter where they live in the world. It really was a great experience seeing how real Parisian's live. :) They invited us to stay with them in their flat and they were wonderful hosts. They met Anne, Jenny, and Brandon one afternoon and we met their friends over wine and cheese in the evening. Two worlds combined... how fun! We can't wait to see where in the world we will see them next.

Favorite things about Paris:

1.The Eiffel Tower.(We love the sparkles at night)
2.The Food (Seriously Fantastic!)Okay, you hear how wonderful the food is in France, but you don't know how amazing it really is until you eat the mouthwatering butter goodness. From chocolate filled croissants, tiramisu, creme brulee, duck, fois gras, mosaics of cheeses, breads that can be smelled from down the street, filet Mignon with caviar, crepes smothered in Nutella.... where was this going? Oh yes, the food is incredible.
3.Getting to experience it with awesome friends.
4.The wide choice of toilets. (Every single toilet we used was completely different)

As we write this we are riding in a train through the snow covered country side filled with people speaking the beautiful language of Italy, headed to Florence. We just left Milan to be exact. There is snow everywhere, the ride through the Alps was breath taking. We are looking forward to spending more time with friends and family and Heather's sister Tiffany and her gracious roommates are hosting us in there apartment for the next 10 days. Bring on the pasta... we're hungry! Ciao!

Beloved Brussels

2012-01-26T04:38:00.000-08:00

Part of the charm of Brussels is in the layers of grey clouds that coat the city, the drizzle that makes the streets sparkle, the constant sight of your breath, and the quietness of the streets of such a large city. Brussels itself has never been on the top of our travel lists and it's main draw was seeing our friend; however, there is something very special about Brussels that begs the traveler to explore. Maybe it's the architecture of the early 13th century, or maybe it's the smell of freshly baked waffles wafting down the streets, or quite possibly, it's the dozens of chocolate shops that line the streets. Whatever it is, we love Brussels and the people here and already know this is only the first of many trips to come.

We have felt so spoiled and so welcomed here. Anne, her family, and friends have treated us like they've known us a life time. Anne's friends joined us and took us on a historical walk through the city center of Brussels. They were so knowledgeable about the history of the buildings and city blocks.

Anne's mom, Marie Francios, hosted a special dinner at her house for us along with Anne's brother and girlfriend. We ate delicious appetizers, a traditional Belgium meal, and a delicious sugar pie desert. It was so special and thoughtful.

Last night, all of Anne's friends meet up with us last night at a cafe (bar) and spent the night hosting us in their country. Between the 4 or 5 different languages spoken (!), everyone was able to communicate. The four of us, only speaking English, are amazed by the ease of speaking so many languages.... it is true, that French may be the most beautiful language in the world. Being surrounded by it, is inspiring by itself.

Brugges is considered a mini Venice, with it's foggy canal lined streets, large churches, cobblestone streets, and square filled markets. It is small and quaint and filled with dozens of chocolate shops which we attempted to try each one. We spent the day walking, chatting, eating, drinking.

Speaking of eating and drinking, we have tasted over 25 beers since our arrival just 3 short days ago. Oh, the beer. It's cheap, fresh, delicious, refreshing. The chocolate... it's nothing like we've ever tasted before. Rich, decadent, melty, amazing. The cheese... sticky, rich, and irresistible (and we hear it will only get better once in France). Bread... fluffy, flavorful, crispy. Now, smother your bread in cheese, taste a sip of beer, and follow with chocolate. Repeat.

We crack ourselves up, and those around us, by trying to speak french, anything French. It is definitely an art, and one that we don't have.On the metro, in the market, at the cafes, those around us find us hilarious because of our terrible pronunciation. It is fun to try a new language, and it's the thought that counts as people are so friendly. Just yesterday on the metro, we started chatting with a couple of Flemish guys about the differences of America and Belgium. They opened their backpack and gave us a couple beers. Nope, not illegal, you can drink in public, on the metro. The only problem we have is that not everyone understands the things that Heather says. The happier and the more excited she becomes, the faster and higher she talks. The issue is that she's really happy and excited her all the time. Yes, she has been told that her English is different from everyone else. The thing is, not even Adam understands everything she says. :)

Other differences, we stay up until 2 am and sleep until late in the morning. The day here starts a bit later and goes a lot later. Dinner at 9 or 10 pm, followed by drinks, and more cheese at 1:30 am when we arrive back at Anne's flat.

Belgium is also more advanced when it comes to environmental protection. Energy and water are conserved on many levels. There are two different flush settings on all the toilets for going number 1 or 2, motion sensor escalators and lights, mandatory recycling programs, and incredible effective transportation... and this is just the start. It makes us realize how easy it is to be wasteful in our lives back home. Speaking of toilets, another funny site is Belgium's answer to lack of public toilets. They have outdoor stalls but we still don't know what the women do.

Tomorrow we leave for Paris and the adventure continues. We'll be switching from beer to wine and continue our quest to find the most delicious pastries in the world. We have a feeling it won't be too difficult.

Day 1- Planes, Beer, Chocolate, and More Beer….

2012-01-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

We have finally arrived in Belgium, but not after a crazy last 24 hours. So it all began Sunday at 4 am when we left for the airport with some of our best friends Jenny and Brandon. We promptly boarded our plane and arrived in Washington DC after one of the most the most turbulent flights ever. Every time we tried to sleep our heads would be jolted by the bone rattling turbulence. Finally, we arrived in DC and boarded our plane to Belgium… and then the wait began. As we taxied to the runway the pilot came on the intercom and announced that a warning light had turned on in the jet engine and he was going to restart the engines to see if it would disappear. Warning light…Jet engine…this was not sounding good. And, did you really need to tell us that? Couldn’t you have just said something else? Anything else? After 2 hours of sitting on the runway the pilot told us we were returning to the gate. Fine by us. The good part. Brandon and Adam got to finish the 49rs game in the sports bar. The bad part. We were the only 49er fans on the East coast and unfortunately they lost, no in your face victory dance for us. Once the girls tracked us down in the bar, we boarded the second plane; 5 hours after our original departure time. Again, we taxied to the runway and as the pilot prepared to take off, he announced that our journey was about to continue, but not to Brussels. Another warning light. Different plane different light. What the heck? You’ve got to be kidding. So once again we return to the gate and the pilot tells us that the hydraulic pump that controls little things like, wing flaps, air pressure, and landing gears has failed, but not to worry. Note to self. Never fly United. They seriously need new planes. This time a mechanic replaced the pump and 10 hours after we arrived in DC we were on our way to Belgium, thus concluded our 24 hour journey.
The moment we touched down we felt at peace with the world. We were excited, eager, and relieved to finally arrive. After a quick trip through customs we exited the airport and were greeted by a wonderful homemade sign that Anne and her mom had made. The sign read, “Bienvendue a Bruxelles” or “Welcome to Bruxelles”. Have you ever noticed that America gives different names to cities throughout the word? Brussels is actually Bruxelles, Florence-Firenze, Rome- Roma. Anne is Heather and Jenny’s friend from high school. She was a foreign exchange student and last year she visited us in the US. 14 years later we are repaying her with the pleasure of our company and visiting her. Anne’s mom only speaks French but she is so excited to see us and take us on a tour of the city. Anne is our translator as many people only speak French. However, smiles and Bon Jour’s go a long ways!
Once at home, Anne prepared an amazing array of meats, cheeses, breads, and chocolates. As we were oohhing and ahhhing, Anne said, it’s nothing! Nothing to her, but incredibly delicious to us. Soon after, we bundled up and headed out to where else? The market of course! We walked through picking out more cheeses and yummy treats like foie gras, a European specialty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras) Later in the evening we walked to the Monday night market, drank hot wine, and meandered through the numerous cheese, meat, and vegetable stands, eating little bits of this and that.

We toped it off at a nearby pub.

The bartender asked us our beer preferences, sweet or bitter, light or dark, and picked out our perfect beer. Traditionally in Belgium beer is served with a big chunk of cheese, a sausage, and roasted barley seeds. Delicious of course! Anne’s Mom, Mary François, picked us up and drove us all around Bruxelles, showing us the most famous sights and monuments.

When she asked Adam and Brandon if they would like to see the hookers they both looked at each other and laughed. She drove us through the Red Light district where half naked women sat in windows with red lights. The street was packed with men gawking at the women. It was a strange and disturbing sight but interesting none the less. Around 11pm we stopped by a “French” fry stand, picked up fries wrapped in paper cones and a variety of dipping sauces. Back at the flat, we eat our late night dinner and were ready for bed!

As we finish writing this, we are getting ready to go out for the day…more sightseeing and undoubtedly, more incredible European cuisine, and a few more toasts to our incredible friend and host, Anne. Thank you already for the best introduction to Europe we could have ever wished for.

New Beginnings for a New Year

2011-12-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

As 2011 comes to a close and 2012 begins, it is a time of many new beginnings as well as the closing of chapters as well. For the last 4 1/2 years, we have been working feverishly to obtain not only our bachelors degree but our teaching credentials too. This year, Heather officially completed her journey and became a special education teacher. Adam is right behind her and will be beginning his student teaching this February. As our educational journey comes to a close, so does our former retail careers. Just shy of 9 years, Heather will be leaving Yankee Candle on January 21. On the same day, Adam will also be leaving his successful position at AT&T.

On January 22, we will board a plane to Brussels, Belgium, unemployed and deliriously happy! Once there we will spend a week traveling with some of our best friends, the Garcia's, while visiting our friend Anne who lives in Brussels and a couple we know in Paris. From there we will bid them Au revoir and continue our travels through France until we make our way to Italy. There we will be meeting up with Tiffany. Soon after, the 3 of us will be boarding yet another plane to the tiny island of Malta, located in the Mediterranean sea. After returning to Florence, we will end our journey in Rome, where on February 22, we will fly back to the States.

So as 2011 comes to an end, we hope that 2012 is full of exciting new adventures and experiences for you as well. What we have learned in the last few years is that dreams can come true with dedication, perseverance, and hard work. Dream big and keep in mind that the biggest limitation to achieving your goals is most often yourself. Conquer the impossible and have a wonderful New Year!

With love, Adam & Heather

And our adventure wraps up

2009-08-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

It ends up that the longer we stayed somewhere the harder it was to leave. The staff at our homestay became our second family while we were away and we "wasted" our days there spending time with them learning about there culture and explaining ours. In the Balinese culture, family is everything, which explains why the guys asked "Why get married if you aren't having kids? That's the whole point!" Also, several generations of family all live together in the same family compound. It's considered a blessing to be born as the youngest son because he automatically assumes the responsibility of caring for his parents his whole life and inheriting the family compound. Also, when the boys marry, the wife moves into the family compound. This cycle repeats itself until grandparents, parents, and children all live together working together to care for each other. Its very common to see a grandmother shopping in a market with a basket on her head and a baby in her arms. So the idea of kids moving out at 18 seems crazy to them, and they asked, "But then who will take care of the parents?"

When it was finally time to Nusa Lembongan, we were lucky enough to head back to the place it all began... with Mikael and Brahma. Even though their homestay was completely booked, they opened up their "special" guest room just for us. They were also like our family as they invited us to eat at their house with them and watch them cook all the fabulous Balinese food. We spent the last two days of our trip talking and eating with them. Their generous hospitality is beyond words.

It was interesting returning to the same place we started our trip at because we are somehow different, changed, so to say. There has been a connection formed with the people of Bali and those who go there. It is the most special place on the earth (that we know of so far). The people there have the sweetest souls you can imagine and open your mind to change.

As we return home, we prepared ourselves for the adjustment back to "our world". Although there are a few things we have missed, like our bed and clean water, there are so many thing we now know we can live without. This experience has put life into perspective and we feel so blessed to have realized what is really important to us. Although a 6 week trip is by far an indulgence, we hope that our blog has introduced this other world to you and that it inspires you to go somewhere and learn something you never thought possible.

We're working on posting pictures, there's over 500 and we hope to have them up in the next couple days.

Adam & Heather

A few more days of paradise...

2009-08-12T01:22:00.000-07:00

The last 5 days have been jam packed with new adventures here on Nusa Lembongan. Besides the fact that N.L. is very much like what Bali would still be like is no tourists ever came, it also has the perfect mixture of young travellers and funky villages gathered on the seashore.

A few days ago we awoke with ambitions of walking around the entire island, thinking somehow it must be as small as the guidebook makes it sound. About 4 hours and 8 miles later, we were looking at the happy tourists riding their scooters around, asking ourselves, why the hell didn't WE think of that! :) Adam looked like he had rubbed himself down with coconut oil (AKA sweat & sunscreen & humidity). He was so hot he ventured into the water where local villiages were loading cows into boats with no ramps- quite a spectacle- and quite brave of Adam! Along the way we were offered the opportunity to in with a local farmer on his peanut and tapioca garden, which we politely declined explaining that we've killed every garden we've ever planted. He understood.

The next day was filled with ocean adventures and Adams 100th scuba dive! Yeh! We spent the rest of the day lounging around the dive shop and pool with new found friends. Since arriving to Indonesia, we had yet to spend more than 4 or 5 nights (at the very most) in one place, so we've really enjoyed spending time in one place and find you meet many more people that way too! We went to dinner with a Canadian couple who have been living in Australia for 3 years and a solo traveler from Geremany, how adventurous! After several Bintangs and lots of laughter, it's been decided we're going to Austrailia! (No not this trip, we wish!)

Today we sang "Born to be Wild" as we drove our hot rod scooter around the island. Nusa Lembongan is also connected by an old, rickety, wooden suspention bridge to another island. So of course, we felt the need to cross this bridge on a death defying act of courage, but obviously not Heathers courage. Actually, Adam was very proud of Heathers courage, let alone the fact that she even got on the back of the thing! Although we had a blast scooting around the islands, the wierdest, or maybe scariest part, was that it actually felt completely normal to drive on the left side of the paths (aka road). I think we've been here a little too long!

Okay, time to return our Hog and have a Bintang while the sun goes down over Bali... rough life, but someones gatta do it.

Still Traveling...

2009-08-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

We moved on to Tulemban, a smaller village up the east coast of Bali, totally devoted 100% to diving. We stayed at a nice little dive shop with a great cafe. The room was our cheapest to date, a whopping $8. The next morning we dove the USS Liberty, a ship that was intentionally run aground after being torpedoed by the Japanese during WWII. When a volcano erupted in the 60's in threw the ship into the water and broke it in half. Alright enough history. So we dove the wreck, which was simply amazing. It was in Adam's Top 2 dives ever and it was Heathers deepest (90 feet) and one of her favorite dives to date. There was literally hundreds of thousands of fish and coral covering every inch of the wreck. We even managed to find pygmy seahorses which are only about a 1/4 inch big and apparently very rare.

After leaving Tulemban we headed south to Sanur for 2 nights. We found a cute little homestay that was near the harbor. Our first night was a full moon and the tide was unusually low. The water dropped at least 10 feet leaving no where to swim. We still managed to work on our tan though and Heather is officially now brown. No longer ghost white! (AMAZINGLY, SHE CAN TAN!)

We took an island hopper boat over to Nusa Lembongan, a small island off of the coast of Bali. It is a lot like the Gili Islands, as there are no motor vehicles and the pace of life is slower here than on Bali, which is what we really like. The natives of the island make their living harvesting sea weed which they then sell to be used in ice cream as an emulsifier. Everywhere we look people have seaweed spread out on tarps drying. It is very cool. Our room here is a cute little dive hotel run by a fantastic staff. One of the guys speaks very good English and likes to joke with us a lot. He says his name is Jack but somehow we highly doubt it. Every time Adam calls him Jack, "Jack" erupts in laughter. We plan on doing some more diving next week in hopes of seeing the elusive Mola Mola. They can grow up to 14 feet tall and only come to these waters once a year. Very big fishies.

We've really found our groove of traveling abroad and think that next time we'll be able to do it even cheaper... and maybe longer too. We can't believe how fast time has flown by! We've already been here more than a month and the thought of coming back to reality is beginning to set in... shucks! Although, we are beginning to miss everyone back home just a bit, we really miss Belly Dog! :)

12 days to go...

Gili Island Bliss

2009-07-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

A week ago we arrived to a place that we always dreamed of but had no idea really existed. Imagine 3 little droplets of white sand beach islands set in the most turquoise blue water you've ever seen... that is the Gili Islands. All 3 totally unique from one another, no motor vehicles at all, only pony drawn carts, unlike Bali they are Muslim so they also have Mosques, and literally THE nicest people we've come across so far. Everyone smiles at you as you walk down the sand paths that make up the "roads" of the islands, asking how your trip is, or wishing you farewell. The islands are so small we easily walked around the entire island in less than 2 hours and without straying from the beach at all.

After a 5 hour slow boat ride we arrived at the largest of the 3 islands, Gili T. It's the most crowded so we had a harder time finding a room at night, plus we had our backpacks so people knew we were desparate, or we' be sleeping on the beach ( which now we know we could have done!). We ended up staying at a dive resort in what ended up being our nicest and by far most expensive room. We were so happy though to see that it had a DVD player and TV with a ton of pirated movies to choose from. We didn't realize that on a trip this long, you actually start to miss, or should we say crave, some of the modern conviniences of home.

The next morning we jumped on the backpacking island hopper boat to head over to Gili Air. There are no docks here so you literally wade into the water and get onto the boat from there... you should have seen the people with roller suitcases, it was halarious, we think they will be bringing backpacks next time. When we arrived at Gili Air we couldn't believe how quiet and beautiful it was. Had we known how much we would like it, we would have made reservations for 2 weeks, but as there are no ATM's on the islands and only cash is accepted, you can't change your plans very easily if you haven't already enough cash. We spent our days diving and lazing around on the white powder beaches. The vibe here was so cool as it was mostly young backbacking couples, we met really nice people from around the world.

After our wonderful days on Gili Air we again jumped on the island hopper and made our way to Gili Meno, the smallest and most quiet island of the 3. It would have been fine, except it was SO quiet is was a little creepy. Not to mention, we stayed at this really strange eco friendly place that was more like glorified camping, which, again, would not have been that bad except it was misquito infested and smelled really bad! We would have left after the first night but this American hippy girl named Jill worked there and we spent the night before chatting for hours. She showed up there to hang out 2 months ago and never left, now she lives there with all the guys who work there and makes signs for the place, oh and natural soap because that's all you're allowed to use while you're there because they reuse the bath water for the plants! It was definitely an experience we'll never forget!

Our last stop before heading back to Bali was again at Gili T. We got there early in the morning but it still wasn't early enough to score a cheap room so we decided to head back to Bali a couple days early. We ended up taking the fast boat back to Bali instead. It was like a giant ski boat with 5 big engines and carries 40 people. We dropped a few people off on Lombok and made our way back through quite trecherous surf. The waves were so big they were crashing over the boat and leaking in, Heather was sure we'd be swimming sooner or later, but luckily we arrived back to Padangbai safe and sound. We found a little homestay for $15 and stayed there.

As we write this we're now up further on the eastern coast in a little fishing village area known as Amed. We found a cute little place and are hoping to do a little more diving, budget allowing. That's the one thing about backpackers, if you overspend one place, you have to cut back in another! Maybe we'll sleep on the beach for a few nights! :)

Okay, we're off to explore our new village! We're a little more than half way through our trip already...

Divers Paradise...

2009-07-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in Padangbai and as we drove down the main street the dive shops seemed to out number the hotels. We knew we had arrived in divers paradise. The vibe here is a laid back beach town mixed with diver bums from around the world. We checked into to the nicest hotel in town ($30). A three story 10 room hotel overlooking the harbor and only 10 feet from the beach. For the first time since arriving in Bali our room is completely sealed from the outdoors. It even has closing windows with AC and toilet paper! The simplest things in life are so gratifying now. Food here in Padangbai is even cheaper than in Ubud. A full dinner is usually under $10. After a wonderful night sleep we walked down the street and found a super friendly dive shop run by a UK lady and her Balinese husband. We did two morning dives with them and absolutely loved them. The water is 83 degrees here. The warmest we have ever been in. Our dive master found a lot of great things including; Frog fish, Lion fish, Ghost Pipe Fish, Cuddle Fish, Blue Spotted Sting Rays and even Heather's favorite Clown fish in giant sea anemones. It was so awesome. I think were going to go broke diving here :) Afterwords we hung out at the dive shop and chatted with the workers and they even served us lunch. Last night a huge storm moved in and it rained buckets all night long and into the morning. We planned on diving today but the waves were washing over the streets so we decided to stay dry instead. As we write this the storm seems to be moving out and we plan on doing more diving tomorrow before we board our boat for the Gili Islands.

Heading to the Beach

2009-07-20T03:07:00.000-07:00

This a Hindu ceremony we watched from the side walk. The police stopped traffic as hundreds of Balinese marched by.

This is the Aygung River valley that people raft down. It is the largest river in Bali and we had to pay a local kid $1 to show us the path down and he even took a picture for us. It was very steep but well worth the views. The 4 seasons is located on the hills above us with amazing edge-less pools that overlook the valley. It's only $500 a night to stay there :)

Here's some cool things that we have been experiencing the last few days....

-We saw our first firefly. It was only one but still amazing.
-We felt an earthquake today. It actually felt like our chairs were jello.
-We ate our first mangosteen with some japanese guys at a restaurant. (Purple fruit with tangerine like center)
-We ate unrip mango from our homestay owner.
-We went to the same restaurant that Anthony Bourdain(From the Travel Channel) ate at for the best pig in the world.
-We got really lost when coming back from the Aygung River and ended up in peoples back yard.
-We realized the US postal service is actually not that expensive and very reliable. ( It cost us $5 to mail 5 post cards.)
-We realized it is impossible to make a phone call here. The lines are usually diconnected or nobody picks up ( you really take this for granted in the US.)
-We Got a wonderful foot massage and Adam wasn't molested :)
-Adam's majorly allergic to Bali (maybe it's all the incence and clove cigarettes burning everywhere :)
-We still really like it here and we have 5 more weeks.
-A damn monkey tried to steal our ice cream.

So we're off to Padangbai which is a town in east Bali on the beach. We ran into a Canadian couple today that gave us some good tips on finding a secret a beach there. It is very humid here in Ubud and we are ready to expierence some of the beaches Bali has to offer. We plan on being there for 3 days and then heading to the Gili Islands for a week. The internet might be hard to find for the next 10 days so this might be are last post until we get back to Bali. We'll have many stories to share when we get back.

Adios
Adam & Heather

Still exploring Ubud

2009-07-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

This morning we went to the sacred monkey forest and saw real wild monkeys! It was so cool, except Heather was a little scared because they were jumping on some of the people. However, we were smart and didn't bring in any food for them to mug us for. Other people were not so lucky, one monkey jumped on this lady 3 times and reached right into her purse! Yikes!
We had a late lunch so we decided to go to the local shack for "dinner". We got all of that for $4.30! WOW! Not having a bottle opener... priceless. (Lucky for us, our Balinese friends down stairs had one)

Walking among rice fields and small villages. Many people here ask us if we're from Holland, as apparently Adam looks like the famous soccer player Michael Owens.

We've spent the last few days exploring this artsy village. The streets are lined with galleries, shops, and more warungs (small cafes) than you could possibly eat at in a year, but that doesn't mean we're not trying! This is all about the food after all! For lunch today, we went to this nice little cafe where we quickly realized we were adjusting to the cheap prices of everything. The meals began at $4, we almost choked because that is very expensive! I know crazy, but most of our lunches and dinners are in the $2 to $3 range. Paying $10 for lunch back home seems stupid now. I think we might have reverse culture shock when we return. Throughout our days here we walk and walk some more, probably at least 5 miles a day.

In Ubud, there are locals everywhere offering to massage, pedicure, and manicure you, until you're pampered out. We took one such company up on their offer and Adam was officially on his way to his first Balinese massage. He put on his little short shorts and nearly got more than he bargained for! Here, there is no room for modesty! They hiked his shorts right up and almost gave him what he didn't bargain for! After lots of laughing afterwords, we decided it was worth the story. In all honesty, it was a nice clean place where they were very nice, but after all, this was his first massage and didn't know what to expect.

We're one week into our adventure and still loving every minute of it.

Love, Adam & Heather

Finally some Pictures to prove we are here !

2009-07-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

So last night we discovered our room was dark and musty and when we first saw it we must have been blinded by Bali brain. We felt like we were in a cave complete with lizards and bugs. In the morning it sounded like every Rooster in Bali was competing in American Rooster Idol. It started around 5 am and never finished. Needless to say we moved on first thing in the morning and found a great place to stay across the street. What a difference a few hundred feet make. Plus it was only $20 a night. This is our view from the front porch. It is so peaceful and not a cave :) The guys running it barely speak English but they are very friendly.
This was taken on the beach in Sanur. Chicken Sates served over hot coals. It was very tasty and authentic. We also had a great view of the ocean and best of all both our meals with drinks cost $9.50. Gotta love Bali and the food :)
Where in the world are we??? Oh yes, we're in the rice fields of Ubud! It's so strange here. You can step off the busiest street onto a path way and behind everything is complete serenity.
This is one of the guys who worked at Tropical Bali Inn. He was super nice and he even walked us down the street to the fire dance. He made our stay wonderful and he even offered to take us to his village to meet his parents next time we visit. He had a great sense of humor and tried to hide behind the tree when we first took this picture. When we'd ask for one beer, he'd pretend he didn't understand and say "5 beers, okay, 5 beers each! "

O.k, So it took us 30 minutes to upload these pictures. So don't hold your breath for daily pictures. Off for more massages and food. I know rough life.

Peace!

We're in Ubud!

2009-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

We left Sanur this morning and bid farewell to our new found friends at Tropical Bali Hotel and promised to return. Little did we know we would actually HAVE to return this trip, as we accidentally forgot Adams passport there! Yikes! Nothing like world traveling and forgetting your passport! We had a driver pick us up this morning and take us to Ubud... thank God because have we mentioned that drivers are crazy here??? Imagine a 2 lane road with 3 cars driving the same direction and 2 motorcycles weaving in between, that's the true Bali diring style. They say it's safe, but somehow we high doubt it. After a safe drive to Ubud, we started our hunt for a place to stay. Set among rice fields, cobble stone paths, and temples, we found the Suma Cottages. They are set in a beautiful tropical gareden on a hillside. We are staying here 2 nights before making our way across the path to a 5 room homestay. When we walked up the 2 guys were just sitting outside on the porch and asked us to come sit with them "Bali style" aka on the floor! Needless to say, we decided to spend a couple days with them. Our room overlooks a beautiful rice field tended by the owners. Adam and his mad negotiating skills talked him down to $20 a night... a high price normally, but good for high season.

After we secured sleeping arrangments for the next 4 nights, we were hungry... AGAIN! Did we mention how much we eat here? I sure hope we don't come back as fat Americans! Everything, even just plain old rice, is absolutely delicious. We had lunch today, barefoot, sitting cross legged, on pillows, overlooking a gorgeous lotus flower lily pond that sat within even more spectacular temple grounds ( I thinkg I'm running out of adjectives to describe how beautiful everything is.. LOL) Very cool and delicious of course. The Balinese take much pride in their cooking and only use local everything. We've had jack fruit (mango-ish), candle nuts, some new squash I can't remember the name, and lots of other new foods. We even learned that rice is like wine, the tempatures, elevations, and age all affect the taste and texture.

Unfortunately, the internet in Indonesia really stinks and we have yet to find a connection fast enough to download any pictures, but don't worry, there are lots!

Okay, I think our $. 50 per half hour internet time is almost up (maybe that's why it's slow!) We're off to go get massages and see some wild monkeys, before of course we enjoy another $1 beer and eat some more good stuff.

Peace! :)

We've fallen in love...

2009-07-13T23:50:00.001-07:00

We've fallen in love with Bali's beauty and culture. We actually fallen so in love with the place we are staying we haven't moved on to Ubud yet! One of the guys who works there, Wayan, walked us to the Balinese fire dance last night. As we walked he old us about his family and about his life here in Bali. We saw the performance, which a man actually danced in fire... coconut husks on fire with coals all over! When it was done, Wayan met us outside to walk us home. We asked him how the dancers feet weren't burnt up, he said it was because he danced from his heart and the Gods protected him. It's amazing how hard everyone works here. Wayan gets to work at 6am every morning and doesn't leave until far after dark, but he still says the guests are his family and that's why he loves it.

Yesterday we sat on the porch with the hotel owner, Mikael, and with a man named Alihandro, and talked about the different worlds we all live in. It's really interesting to hear other peoples perspectives. Also, everyone we've talked to has us pinned as western Americans before we can even tell them where we're from.. apparently Californians have there very own accent! :)

Shaun... the toilet water doesn't swirl backwards :(

We're still working on trying to get pictures downloaded, the internet is incredibly slow here!

We miss Belly dog and everyone else... but not that much yet!

By the way, there are mangy dogs everywhere here. Apparently, they are the reincarnation of people who did bad things in previous lives. Balinese people cannot understand why on earth we would spoil our pooches!

Tomorrow, for real this time, we will be on our way to Ubud, the cultural center of the island.

We have finally arrived!

2009-07-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

After an exhausting 30 hours of travel we have finally arrived in Sanur, Bali. Bali has exceeded our expectations already. Everything is totally new, totally exciting, and really different. We arrived at our hotel of 10 rooms to be warmly greeted by it's owners Mikel from Sweden and Brahma from Java. Our room overlooks a beautiful garden and pool with open air views of the mountains. We were served Bintang beer and a delicious dinner right on our porch, followed by even better chocolate cheesecake and jack fruit (All for $5!) After dinner, we crashed! We can't even begin to tell you how taxing 30 hours of travel is on your body... jet lag is real! :)This morning we woke up to coffee, tea, and nasi gorang breakfast. If you've ever seen the movie Mr. Deeds, the staff appears out of no where for your every need. Dodi arrived on our porch just as we were thinking about massages... tonight at 4 pm we'll each enjoy an hour massage by the pool under a thatched roof.... for $5! We can't believe how cheap everything is! Oh and good news for everyone who was worried about Heather's white skin and blonde hair... Swedish people are everywhere and she's not even the blondest! Our neighbors are a young Swedish couple just traveling here for the weekend.. how cool! Today, we traveled through the town, probably a 4 mile walk. We passed religious ceremonies on the beach which was beautiful and amazing, along with hundreds of offerings to the Gods. There are temples and shrines all over. The people here are SO friendly, all the kids we pass wave and say hello, they are excited when we smile and wave. We had lunch on the beach... DAD, Adam had real Indonesian sates served on live burning coals!!! DELICIOUS!!! We think we're going to eat our way through this place! Our next stop will probably be the mountain town of Ubud in 2 days. We have no reservations anywhere so it will be an adventure to find our next place. Stay tuned!

We're having problems downloading pics from this computer, so we'll try to update them next time.

Countdown to Bali

2009-06-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

Our Bali website is finally up and running.... just in the nick of time! Our adventure begins on July 10th, we can't wait! It's hard to believe it's actually real. Stay tuned as we'll update our blog along the way. Please feel free to write on out blog as this will be our way of staying in touch with all our family and friends throughout our 6 week backpacking adventure.